Chapter 7: Final Flight of the 'Tiny Bronco'
Shera told them of the rocket. Of how she wasn't satisfied with the oxygen tanks and how Cid said that she was too slow. The captain had gone to the cockpit and had begun the countdown but had found out that Shera was still inside the engine room. Cid had pushed the Emergency Shutdown two seconds after the boosters had fired up. To save Shera. When the rocket slammed back onto the ground it tilted several degrees to the right until one of the support spires stopped its movement.
A lot of time passed by, but no one ever bothered to take down Shinra No. 26. Even when all the trees were cut away, and houses and shops were built around it. The rocket still stood there, looming over the town, still threatening to fall.
Shera folded her arms tightly against her chest, a small tear forming in her eye at the memory of that day. "He pushed the Emergency Shut Down switch, aborting the mission, to save my life," she said. "After that, the Space Program was cut back and the launch was cancelled. It's my fault his dream was destroyed…" The tear fell and rolled down her cheek, and she hurriedly wiped it away with her sleeve. "That's why… it's all right. I don't care what the Captain says. I'll live my life for him."
It was indeed a very moving story, and certainly touched the hearts of everyone standing in the living room.
The back door slammed against the wall as Cid came strolling in, flicking a cigarette out of the door as he came in. As he entered the living room he looked around for a second, before glaring at poor Shera angrily.
"Shera! You still haven't served 'em tea!"
"I… I'm sorry," Shera apologized quickly. She pushed her glasses hurriedly back on her face and turned back to the boiling kettle and beginning to pour the hot water into the mugs, along with the milk. Soon the smell of piping hot tea filled the house.
No one said anything as she worked. They were remembering the story Shera had told them, and slowly beginning to understand why Shera never said anything about the Captain's aggressive behavior. Now they could understand why Cid seemed so angry about everything, and it certainly explained his behavior towards Shera. Still… it seemed a bit too harsh, as Nanaki had said.
While Shera hurried about finishing the tea and handing out the few mugs that were ready, Cid walked over and sat at the table. He tapped his fingers irritably against the wood, tapping out a faint but catchy tune. He stopped tapping long enough to look up at Naruto and the others. "Hurry up and sit down!" he commanded. "Or ain't my hospitality good enough for you?"
At his command the others immediately sat down. Yuffie moved first, leaping straight into another chair at the table. Aeris and Tifa sat with her, sipping their mugs of tea meekly without a word. There were no other chairs so the others had no choice but to stand, but Cid never said anything more to them.
After a moment or two, Cid pushed back his chair and leaned back. He brought his feet up and placed them on the table, tapping them gently in place of his fingers. He checked his watch again and grunted loudly. "They're late…" he grumbled. "Where is Rufus…?" No one replied to him. They just sat silently, slowly drinking their tea.
At that moment there was a loud knock on the front door, before it burst open and a man in a yellow suit came strolling in. Everyone recognized him instantly. They remembered his bulbous figure back in Midgar, in the President's office after his assassination. It was Palmer, the man in charge of Shinra's Space Program.
"Hey-HEY!" Palmer said loudly, brushing rudely past Naruto and Cloud into the living room. "Long time no see! So Cid, how ya been?"
Looking up, Cid swung his legs off the table and stood up in a single, fluid motion. He now blanked the others and ran over to Palmer, looking him briefly up and down. "Well, if it ain't fat man, Palmer," he said gruffly. "How longer were you figurin' on keepin' me waitin'? So? When's the Space Program gonna start up again?"
"Hey-hey! I don't know!" Palmer said hurriedly, waving his arms rapidly in front of him. He then stopped and pointed outside the front door. "The President's outside, so why don't you ask him?"
Cid's face crunched up into an expression of fury, and his right eyebrow twitched as he glared angrily at Palmer. "Shit!" he spat. "Good for nothing, fat fucker!" He pushed Palmer aside, grabbed his spear, and ran out of the door. Palmer waved his arms about frantically as he tried to stop himself from spinning into the door. When he stopped spinning he turned towards the door, his fist shaking angrily.
"Don't say 'fat'!" he shouted, but Cid was already gone. He sighed heavily and looked inattentively around the room. His eyes passed over Naruto and the others without a flicker of recognition, and settled on the kettle that was still steaming behind Shera. He ran over to her "Hey-hey! Tea!" he exclaimed. "Can I have some too? With lotsa sugar and honey and… oh yeah, don't forget the lard!" He licked his lips dreamily, despite the horrified and sickened gazes of Naruto and his group around him.
While Shera began to brew up Palmer's very odd idea of tea, Naruto and Cloud put down their mugs and sidled over towards the door. In his rush Cid had left the door slightly open, and he could see out into the town. Naruto pressed himself against the wall and peeked through the small crack, careful not to be seen. Cloud got down on his knees underneath Naruto to find out what was going on.
They could see Cid easily, standing with his back to them in the middle of the town. President Rufus was in front of him, talking to Cid about something that Naruto and Cloud couldn't hear just yet. There was also a single blue-uniformed soldier nearby, staying close to Rufus. That struck the two as odd, but then Rufus probably didn't suspect that Naruto and the others were already in Rocket Town, and didn't need more guards.
Naruto dared to open the door a little more and look a little further, trying to make out what they were saying. Meanwhile the others in the house were all silent, listening and watching the two carefully. Naruto wondered when Cid was going to find out that the Space Program wasn't restarting. He soon got his answer.
"What the……!" came Cid's surprised and angry voice, now lifted so Naruto and everyone in the house could easily hear him. "You got me all excited for nothing? Then, what'd you come here for?"
"I want to borrow the Tiny Bronco," Rufus replied, much more calmly, seeming unfazed by Cid's angry shouts. "We're going after Sephiroth. But seems like we've been going in the wrong direction. But now, we think we know where he's headed. But, we have to cross the ocean. That's why we want your plane…"
"Shit!" Cid cursed, his fists tightly clenched and shaking. "First the airship, then the Rocket, and now, the Tiny Bronco. Shinra took outer space away from me and now you want to take the sky away from me, too?"
Rufus shook his head pitifully, and moved a strip of blond hair from his eyes. "Oh my…" he said. "You seem to forget that it was because of Shinra, Inc. that you were able to fly in the first place."
"What?" Cid raged. His fists were twitching, trying to hold back the urge to land a furious blow on the smug young man's face. With the guard nearby he couldn't do anything, so he just had to contain his anger.
While this conversation was going on, Naruto continued to watch from the crack in the door. Although he could hear Cid's voice easily he couldn't hear Rufus very well, and couldn't make out what the President was saying. He got the impression that Rufus was also after the Tiny Bronco, judging from Cid's outraged cries. He was just about to stream chakra into his ears when he was interrupted by a hand that gently patted him on the shoulder. Turning around he saw a nervous-looking Shera gazing at him.
"Uh, excuse me… This way…" she said, motioning Naruto back inside the house. Naruto complied, shutting the door behind him and following Shera back into the living room. "You wanted to use the Tiny Bronco, right?" she asked him. Naruto nodded. "I believe Palmer's going to take it. Why don't you talk to him?"
Everyone jumped and looked around the room. Sure enough, Palmer was gone, his estranged mug of tea still sitting on the worktop. No one had noticed him slip away – they had been far too busy listening to Cid outside to notice. They almost kicked themselves for their stupidity, but there was no time for that. They needed to stop Palmer from taking the Tiny Bronco.
Following Naruto they ran through the back door and into the yard where the Tiny Bronco was resting. Sure enough Palmer was there, climbing over the plane's ample frame, messing around with the controls and muttering to himself.
"Hmm… Why do I have to do this…? I'm the head of the Space Program…"
"We'll take over if it's too hard for you," said Naruto.
Palmer froze, his fingers hovering above the controls. Slowly he turned around and saw Naruto and the rest of the group gathered around the plane, looking up at him. Palmer's eyes squinted as he looked back down at them, and for the first time the faint flickers of recognition slowly began to appear on his rounded face.
"I've seen you somewhere before…" he said, unsurely. He stared at Naruto and Cloud a few seconds more, scratched his head, and then clicked his fingers. "I know! The Shinra building! When the President was killed!" He suddenly froze again as the full memory came back to him in a flash. "Ulp! Se…se…security!"
"This ain't the Shinra buildin' idiot," said Barret.
Realizing this, Palmer instead reached inside his jacket and pulled out a small gun that had been hidden in his inside pocket. Cloud recognized it as a Mako gun – a gun that utilized the power of Mako. The Mako energy within it was not as condensed as Materia, and flowed freely to create magical waves of fire, ice or even sometimes lightning.
Without even a consideration for where he was aiming, Palmer pointed the gun down and fired. A stream of Mako energy came pouring from the tip of the gun, firing out in a long, continual stream. Nanaki and Vincent both jumped aside as the stream struck the ground between them. It burned a searing hole into the ground and the smell of burning grass lifted up into the air.
Running forward, Naruto drew his sword and leapt up into the air. He swung the blade with all his might, and as it swung Kyuubi pushed her flames into the blade, creating a thin shield of flames that swept across the metal. Palmer jumped aside just in time, but the flames singed at least a few of the grey-white hairs on his head and made him cry out.
Palmer then darted across the top of the Tiny Bronco, rubbing his head and calling out curses as he ran. His extra weight jumping about the plane made it shake and tilt from side to side, and because of his attack Naruto was in a precarious position, and was finding it hard to keep his balance. He eventually lost the battle for balance and fell forward onto the plane's controls, his hand accidentally falling on the switch-on button.
All at once the plane came to life. The engine gave a loud chug-chug as it coughed into life, before settling into a gentle rhythmic motion. The propellers on the plane's wings slowly began to turn, gradually picking up speed. Thankfully they were slow to warm up, and it would be about a minute or more before they picked up enough speed to take off.
Meanwhile Palmer had jumped off the plane, and was now locked in a fierce battle with Aeris and Tifa. Aeris raised her staff and swung it out in front of her, aiming for Palmer's head. She missed his head as he dodged, but with his arm raised she managed to knock the Mako gun from his hands, and fell down to the floor, skidding out of harm's way.
With his weapon now gone Palmer turned away, only to remember that Tifa was standing behind him. The young woman grabbed hold of Palmer's shoulders and pulling him towards her. She gave him an almighty kick in his solar plexus, which made him choke and groan loudly. She didn't stop there and lifted him straight up, giving him two sharp punches in his round face. Then she let him go, and Palmer went rolling to the floor. Incidentally, right by his Mako gun. And Vincent.
Naruto decided to bring jutsus into the battle and said, "Katon: Faiatama no jutsu!" A ball of fire formed in his hand and, using chakra, he shot the ball towards Palmer and Vincent. The ball impacted the ground in front of Palmer and exploded. Palmer jerked back from the fire and that was all Vincent needed. He flicked the mako gun into the air and a single bullet from Vincent's expertly held pistol ended its usefulness. Palmer cried out in dismay as his beloved weapon and his last line of defense came crashing to the ground in pieces, the Mako energy slowly spilling onto the ground.
Palmer sagged heavily, realizing that he was beaten. Looking up he saw the others standing in a line in front of him with stern looks on their faces. Suddenly Palmer pointed up behind them and cried out, and when they all looked they also cried out and quickly ducked down to the ground.
The wing of the plane passed slowly overhead, casting a dark shadow over them as it passed. Palmer also had to duck down to avoid the wing and its lethal propellers, but as it passed by he saw his chance to escape. While the others were busy climbing to their feet he jumped up and fled, darting across the backyard.
He didn't get very far. Using a nearby pond Naruto called out "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu" and a large water dragon leapt out of the pond. The dragon collided with Palmer violently and he was sent rolling across the grass until he slumped into an unconscious heap in the bushes.
"Nice shot," said Vincent softly.
"Thanks! You too," replied Naruto, referring to the blasting of the mako gun. By now the plane's propellers were spinning wildly, and already the plane was slowly beginning to fight and tug to get off the ground.
Naruto looked at the controls and said, "Cloud, you're flying,"
Cloud got into the pilot seat as everyone jumped onto the plane, just as it began to tug a little more and attempted to rise off the ground. Yuffie made it only just in time, grabbing into the edge of the wing, just as it began to finally rise into the air, carrying Naruto and the others with it.
The plane moved forward and rose steadily off the ground. It just missed hitting the back fence and rose higher and further, slowly pulling away from Cid's house. A strong gust of wind turned the abandoned lever to the left, and the plane complied in turn. It swiftly rose up and spun round, narrowly missing the tilting rocket as it headed back into Rocket Town.
Down on the ground, Cid and Rufus looked up in amazement as the Tiny Bronco came swerving around the rocket. Someone must have pressed on the lever again, for the plane came swooping down towards the ground. It narrowly missed Rufus and his guard and zoomed steadily past. Cid looked around for a second before he pushed past the soldier and began to run rapidly after the plane.
Cloud turned around on the plane and looked down at Cid running after the plane. He wished he could slow the plane down a bit and get him on board, but the Shinra soldier was now firing at them and they couldn't afford to slow down. Besides, he didn't know which button it was anyway, and the plane was picking up speed.
As it turned out, he didn't need to know anyway. With the plane still trying to gain speed Cid was catching up to them, although soon the plane would be moving too fast for him to catch up. As he neared the tail end of the plane he jumped with all his might and grabbed onto the end of the wing. He held on with all his strength as the plane began to rise again, picking up in speed.
The Shinra soldier continued to fire, even as the plane began to rise and head speedily out of his sight. He must have had either good sight or excellent aim, for the next bullet he fired went zipping through the air and struck the tail end of the plane, cutting a giant hole in the tail. The plane shuddered violently and dropped about a meter out of the air, smoke pouring from the tail.
"Shit! The tail's been hit!" Cid shouted, glancing back at the smoking tail.
"Emergency landing…" called Naruto.
Cid nodded and turned back to the front of the plane, gripping onto the frame. "This's gonna be a big splash," he warned them all. "Hold onto your drawers and don't piss in 'em!"
The plane's engine chugged again and dropped another meter out of the air, before it very slowly began to descend. Looking ahead they could see the ocean of the west part of the continent, which meant they were going to crash in the ocean for sure. They passed by the shore and continued to descend, heading straight for the water.
As Cid warned it was a big splash. The plane landed in the water and almost bounced off the top, as though it was a stone that had been skidded across the top of a smooth, calm lake. But this was no lake and certainly wasn't smooth. A spray over water came pounding up the side the plane, sending cold droplets down onto the group as they struggled to hold onto the plane, holding onto anything they could to stop themselves from falling and drowning in the water.
The crash wasn't as bad as they had feared. Although the plane landed heavily it stayed above the water and did not sink, and even as the roar of the splashing water died down they could still hear the faint chug of the engine, showing that the plane was still usable. Although, there was one thing.
"She won't fly anymore," Cid said, disappointed. He ran his hand through the water, feeling the gaping hole in the tail wing, which was half submerged in water. They needed the tail wing to fly, and without that, the Tiny Bronco would never make it off the ground without crashing again.
Cloud sighed heavily. That was a huge blow to them, but not a completely disadvantageous one. They had wanted to use the Tiny Bronco because of its ability to fly, but as he looked around at the plane, he had another idea. "Can't we use it as a boat?" he asked curiously.
"Shit!" Cid cursed. "Do whatever you want."
Naruto looked round at the others. They all felt a little guilty about the way things had turned out, especially for Cid. The Tiny Bronco had meant so much to him, and now because of them and the Shinra, it had been taken away from him.
"Cid, what are you going to do?" he asked.
Cid pulled his hand up from the water and sat up on the edge of the plane, thinking it over. "Dunno," he admitted finally. "I'm history with the Shinra and I've given up on the town."
"How 'bout your wife? How 'bout Shera?" asked Barret.
"Wife?" Cid spat, choking back a laugh. "Don't make me laugh! Just thinkin' 'bout marryin' her gives me the chills. What're you guys gonna do?"
"We're going after a man named Sephiroth," Naruto explained. "We'll have to get Rufus of the Shinra someday too."
Cid stared at Naruto, wondering if he was serious. When he saw Naruto's expression didn't change and he realised he was, he said, "I don't know about any of that, but…" He closed his eyes in thought for a second, before he stood up, grabbed his spear and put it firmly over his shoulder. "What the hell? Sign me up!"
Naruto couldn't help but smile a little. He somehow figured that Cid would say that. Still, he needed approval from the others to make it official. "How 'bout it, everyone?" he asked, waiting for their answer.
One by one the others looked round at each other. Then Aeris stood up on the plane, making it rock a little, and said, "I'm all for it!" The others then slowly nodded their own approval, and it was then that it became official.
Cid smirked proudly. "Glad to be aboard, numbskulls!" he said.
"Numskulls…?" Naruto asked, his eyebrow twitching.
Cid nodded. "Yeah. Anyone stupid enough to go up against Shinra nowadays has GOTTA be a numskull! I like it! So, where we headed? Rufus was goin' after Sephiroth towards the Temple of the Ancients."
"Really…?" Cloud exclaimed, almost falling from the plane and into the water. "…Where is it? That Temple of the Ancients?"
Cid thought carefully for a moment, before he finally shrugged. "Dunno," he said. "That numskull kid was tellin' me he was headin' 'the wrong direction'." He pointed out in the direction they were facing, towards the west. "…So maybe it's off this way?"
Naruto turned around and looked out at the ocean. There was another continent visible in the distance, probably no more than an hour's ride from their current location. And they still had a good few hours of daylight left, so they wouldn't need to worry about traveling at night. Still…
"Let's just head for land and get some info," he suggested.
'Temple of the Ancients… That name bothers me.'
"Me too Naruto. Me too,"